Health Organizations are no strangers to leveraging technological advancements to improve the patient experience. The latest innovations can also improve your practice workflow, and ensure the methodology of recording, storing, and sharing data is more accessible, efficient, and secure.
When moving to a new EHR system, one of the first considerations you will likely come across is whether or not to use a cloud-based or in-house, locally hosted EHR, which can impose a large hardware and personnel investment.
While in-house data storage for EHRs was originally the gold-standard, advances in technology have created several clear areas of benefit brough by cloud-based EHR systems. The staff at GeeseMed, a cloud based EHR service from professionals experienced in the EHR and practice management realms, have compiled these 5 advantages that your organization can leverage by using a cloud-based data storage system.

Costs
According to the AJMC, the cost of a traditional EHR system can total over $100,000, and averages $40,000 today. Keep in mind that this number is for up-front cost, and does not include expected updates, maintenance, electricity, licensing fees, etc.
With this in mind, it should be clear that setting up a new EHR in-house requires a significant up-front investment. This is especially the case is your practice is providing the necessary hardware and the personnel on your end to configure and maintain the practice-side of the setup.
In that case, by moving to a cloud system, you either remove the need for extra IT personnel entirely, or free up your existing personnel to focus on other objectives critical to the practice, such as computer and printer maintenance.
A cloud based EHR offloads much of the technical and financial load to the vendor you are partnering with. This means that as your practice scales, your EHR partner bears the responsibility for replacing, upgrading, and adding equipment. This eases the process of adding new doctors, medical offices, etc. A web-based solution will also provide the most up to date software, which means your practice never falls behind competitors.

Enhanced Security
Keeping your patient and other healthcare data secure is a vital part of being in compliance with HIPAA and general healthcare privacy regulations. A cloud storage solution can help provide improvements to how your patient data is managed, as they deliver highly secure, remote data centers that are well-protected from theft, attack, and other issues.
If you have an in-house solution, you are 100% responsible for the security of the data storage. Whether or not your system is in compliance or putting patient data at risk may be hard to discern, especially as the hardware you have invested in ages, and the security measures that were once reliable no longer protect data against incursions.

Recovery
Piggy-backing on the data security avenue, practices are more secure in the unlikely event an incident does occur. With cloud storage, the contained data is safe and secure off-site. Regular backups are made via automated features, which provides a fast and reliable recovery method if needed.

Making the Switch
Switching your EHR solution to the cloud is a serious decision and will require preparation to map out a plan to ensure minimal impact on your data and practice.

To learn more about the process of switching EHRs from your current system to a new more modern, adaptable, and secure solution like GeeseMed, please reach out to our staff.

Suhas Gandhi
Chief Technology Officer